Just like the ending of last season…
The new season began the same way last season ended. With a victory. Olympiacos took some time to reach a safety net and thus secure an easy victory against PAOK 89-64.
The ‘reds’ began the game kind of numb and despite controlling it and taking small leads at time, were not able to keep them against the Thessaloniki team.
All of these until half of the third quarter. The meaningful game by Hines and the excellent Law and Papanikolaou “unlocked” the guests’ defense, Olympiacos started to widen the margin and at the end reached an easy victory in front of four thousand fans.
The quarters: 18-16, 41-35, 63-51, 89-64.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 8 (7reb.), Law 17 (1), Antic 7, Spanoulis 11 (1), Perperoglou 4, Dorsey 3 (7 reb.), Sloukas 5, Μavroeidis 5, Gecevicius 5, Printezis 9, Papanikolaou 15 (1), Mantzaris.
PAOK (Μarkopoulos): Hatcher 15 (1 3p., 5as.), Kaselakis, MacGrath 9 (1), Theodorakos, Tsairelis 10, Dedas 5 (1), Margaritis 3, Papadopoulos 6, Kalles 6, Charitopoulos 10, Liapis, Αmparas.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: Congratulations to PAOK and Mr. Markopoulos. Always serious and always with a serious team. We were not in the spirit of the game, we had bad collaborations in the first half, but our opponent was also a very good one. We got better during the game, we worked better together, we played better defense and if we had been more decisive defense wise our results would have been better. Greek League games are not preparation one, that’s a wrong attitude. This is not the case. We are always looking at the next game, playing on the road against Efes is a very difficult game. Panathinaikos lost the championship last season because they lost the game in Kavala.
I would also like to say that there are some players who deal the same way with all the games. This is what Hines does and tonight he showed us the road to victory. Now, about not having time to rest before the derby against Panathinaikos: We only need to look into ourselves; it’s easy to come up with excused. That’s the schedule, to say that we don’t have time to prepare for Panathinaikos is wrong, that’s why we have 14 quality players for two games a week. Caja Laboral went to play at Gran Canaria after only two days.
About the presence of the fans in the gym: It’s very important. That the football team did not have a game was definitely a factor, also together with the fact that there hadn’t been any other games playing. This team has earned the support of its fans. I disagree that having the fans present puts extra pressure. You have pressure no matter what. It’s good that fans come to the gym, not only for us, but also for the rival.
KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU: We did not play well in the first half, especially in defense. We wish to really thank our fans, I don’t want to move on and talk about the derby. This is the philosophy of the team, practice and again practice and one game at a time. About Stratos, I had once again said when he first came, that he doesn’t only help the team; he also helps me improve in offense, in defense and as a person. I can only profit from him.
SOULIS MARKOPOULOS: Olympiacos was better during the whole of the game. We played very well both in offense and in defense and we are going to be even better in the future. We got tired, Olympiacos got a lot of offensive rebounds and that cost us. We are a new team, with new players that are trying to find the basketball ID in the first category. I think that with the return of Kostas Charalampidis we are going to find offensive solutions.
VANGELIS MARGARITIS: We knew tonight’s game against Olympiacos would be difficult. We started out strong and focused and managed to keep close to the score in the first half. We allowed fast breaks and easy baskets in the second half. Kostas Charalampidis that would have helped us was not with us. We continue for the next game.